BOYCOTTING the EU and Africa, the Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh said, “EPA is a stumbling block; they [African leaders] said that they will work on it, but these people are putting pressure for Africans to sign it in the summit that is coming up in Brussels.
The Gambia is not going to sign it, because I’m not going to continue to export our materials as raw…Anybody who wants a partnership with us, and you want my raw materials, process them here; then you are a good investor.
But where you come and then just take it and go and process it elsewhere, it is not going to happen because we will be creating unemployment here and creating jobs over there, which is unacceptable”.
Perhaps his is a lone voice in that part of Africa where most of the leaders look up to Europe for reassurance.
In Southern Africa, President Zuma shared the same views when he decided to boycott the summit in solidarity with President Mugabe.
He said, “I think that time must pass wherein we are looked as subjects, we are told who must come, who must not come, we have not attempted to decide when we meet Europe; who must come and who must not come.
It is wrong and causes this unnecessary unpleasantness.
I thought the AU and EU are equal organisations representing two continents but there is not a single one of them who must decide for others.” 
But how many of this new generation of African leaders share the pan-African spirit of solidarity?
Africa’s future looks gloomy especially with the new crop of leaders emerging on the continent, most of who will do anything to dine and wine with the former ‘masters’ at high tables.
The former Tanzanian President, Dr Benjamin Mkapa was right when he likened the EU-Africa summit to a photo-shooting event.
He said: “You ask me why this is still happening, well (African countries still going for such meetings) I think one, it is almost like a sickness now.
Aid dependency is still holding us hostage and is still very much above our thinking. Aid, aid, aid…The European people will tell you we will give you this much by way of aid and for that reason we say this is an opening that we can’t close.
Secondly, and really, I am not running down the leadership, but some people like the ceremonies and photographs which come out of there.”
And he was spot on.
One of the EU-Africa summit photographs shows a relaxed Uhuru Kenyatta flanked by Jose Manuel Barroso (the European Commission President) and Herman Van Rompuy (and EU Council president).
At face value all looks well, except that Uhuru Kenyatta has a pending case (adjourned to 7 October 2014) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the 2007 Kenyan election.
Last year when the Kenyans went to the polls (and Uhuru won), many countries in the West were wary of his victory.
When African countries, China, Russia and India were sending congratulatory messages to Uhuru Kenyatta personally, some European Union member countries chose to congratulate the people of Kenya for holding ‘peaceful’ elections, rather than sending messages to Uhuru.
The White House pointed out that there would be consequences to Kenyan elections. His trial at the Hague was expedited.
Last year President Obama avoided Kenya (his fatherland) during his state visit to Africa, citing Kenyatta’s pending trial as the main reason. But in August 2014 he is inviting Kenyatta to the US-Africa summit, which will leave out the leaders of Zimbabwe, Sudan, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Egypt and Sudan among others.
So what has now changed?
The EU and the USA desperately need Kenyatta in their war against some Islamic militants in East Africa.
Kenyatta will remain relevant and useful to them for as long as the threat from Islam in East Africa continues.
In 2010, Muammar Gaddafi was relevant to the EU, he hosted the Third EU-Africa Summit in November the same year and posed for photographs with the people who had him killed a few months later.
It was wrong for the EU to decide which countries in Africa should attend the summit, and which ones should not.
Europe is still set on practising its divide and rule tactic; demonising some African leaders and praising others so that we keep divided.
Obama is employing the same tactic.
With an economic growth projected at 5,3 percent in 2014, Africa is strategically posited to play a leading role in world politics and not to be treated as Europe’s junior cousin.
Ailing ‘old’ Europe should not be the one to dictate to Africa.
Fortunes have turned and the ‘master-‘servant’, ‘teacher-student’, or ‘donor-receiver’ relationship should be a thing of the past.
After all the EU is still battling an economic recession while Africa is rising, following the footsteps of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and other emerging economies.
To leave out other leaders, the EU said it was a summit between the European Union and Africa, not an EU-AU summit.
This means that they either do not recognise the African Union, or feel threatened by a strong African coalition, because a divided Africa is easy to rule.
But one thing is certain, Africa is no longer the junior cousin of Europe.